History Goon

This is it, the Season 2 finale! I couldn’t think of a better way to end this one than with a Germanic bloodbath. Arminius was sent at a very young age to the Roman Empire as a hostage. The Romans did what they did in those situations, they made him Roman. Education, cultural changes, learning a new language, learning military tactics that he’d need as a Legionnaire. All good things. Until he decided to go home… Thank you all for making this possible. I couldn’t and wouldn’t do this show without you. See you next season!  

S.2 Ep. 19 - Mad Jack ChurchillThis week we have one of the most prolific maniacs in the history of the British Empire and that's saying something. Jack Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill was born in either the perfect time or CENTURIES too late. He would have been just as happy killing invading Danes with a longbow as he was killing Nazis with one. Yeah, you read that right. He led men through Norway, Italy and France, all while PLAYING BAGPIPES and fighting Germans with a broadsword. That’s not even the end of the wild shit he did during and after the war… Enjoy!

This week we follow the not at all cursed from the beginning voyage of the Russian Baltic Fleet. Russia had needed a warm water port FOREVER, the Baltic Sea, freezes. They would eventually lease a port from the Chinese buuuuuuut, the Japanese didn’t much care for that and attacked the Russian ships in China. Within A DAY of the Baltic Fleet setting sail they had damaged 3 of their own ships. A week in they hit the North Sea, specifically a stretch between England and Denmark called Dogger Bank which was well known for the commercial fishing industry. Do you see where this is going yet? It goes exactly where you think… Then it gets even worse for the Russians… Enjoy.

A duck, a horse, a cat and a bear. 2 are Marines, 1 is a German turncoat and 1 is in a Polish artillery division. Which is which? You’ll have to listen to find out!

S.2 Ep. 16: Botched ExecutionsWe’ve talked about execution methods (Season 1 episode 21) but what happens when an execution goes wrong? Well dear listener, have I got some stories for you! Everything from members of the Royal family (possibly reptilians) to some more… Fiery modern ones. Hang around and enjoy.  

This week I’m joined by either Sam from the award winning NeverDaily Podcast or The Operator from the also award winning 911 Calls with The Operator. We delve into the depths of the Highgate Cemetery; the geography, the history, the famous people that call it their final resting place and THE GIANT F**KING VAMPIRE that haunts it. Plus we’ll get to know a couple of total badasses (giant dorks) that would try and hunt the fiend down and kill it. There was only one thing in their way… Each other. And how do you solve that? By advertising the fact that you’re planning a MAGIC FIGHT IN THE CEMETERY. Oh! And there’s a series of other weird things including but not limited to: Grave desecration, voodoo dolls in the mail and maybe a headless corpse in a car. Enjoy! 

Let’s talk about some good guys from WWII this time. The Last trip to the Second World War was… Not as fun as this one is going to be. Leonard Funk joined the Army in 1941 and was part of one of the early on parachute regiments and would go on to prove that he may have had the fastest gun in Belgium. Then we have William GH Cercy who has one of the most wholesome moments in the history of History Goon before shipping off to Northern France to fight alongside George Patton. Well, not beside Patton, or any of the white troops, he was part of a segregated tank battalion but that didn’t stop him from making good Nazis… Enjoy.

S.2 Ep. 13: FBI Miami ShootoutWelcome to 1986 Miami, grab a drink, a Cuban (the sandwich don’t be weird) and a heaping tablespoon of cocaine! This week we’re talking about the most lethal single day in FBI history when a team of Special Agents ran up against two ultraviolet bank robbers named Michael Lee Platt and William Russell Matix. They started off small; robbing grocery stores and drug dealers before moving up to being two of the most vicious bank and armored car heistmen in the city. After months of trying to track these guys down the FBI team finally makes contact with them and things go from bad to officer down VERY quickly. It’s a wild story with one of the craziest endings you could never imagine. Enjoy!  

S.2 Ep. 11: Bohemian GroveI don’t usually tie episodes into current events but… When the fruit hangs low I have to pick it once in a while. This time we’re headed off to the Redwood forest of California to sneak into a forbidden campground that is off limits to everyone except the ultra elite. Bohemian Grove has been the birthplace of many different world shaping events, everything from hand selecting presidents and heads of state to possibly the creation of the first stealth bomber and the Nuclear Program that would lead to the end of WWII. Then there’s a bunch of MUCH MORE sinister things going on out in the big timber… Enjoy. 

This week I’m getting after my first listener suggestion, an Air Force Pararescueman who fought in Vietnam. There isn’t too much more to say here without spoiling things so, enjoy the story of Bill Pitsenbarger’s selfless service to help wounded soldiers. You have no idea how much I wish there was more I could find on this guy… 

S.2 Ep. 10: Irma Grease & Ilse Koch: Nasty Nazi LadiesThis one is gonna be a blast… When you think of Nazi war criminals you usually picture some Indiana Jones-esque, cartoonishly evil guy with a giant face scar and tiny mustache. Sometimes it's the person you least suspect. Like someone that looks like she could be one of your friend’s aunts or a random girl you see in town. But, sometimes monsters hide behind female faces. Sometimes they get described as having “An Angel Face and Snakes Eyes” which isn’t at all creepy. These are two of the worst women I’ve ever had the displeasure of reading about.  

This episode was kinda spur of the moment and not a regularly scheduled one but:This time I sat down with my good friend and host of Crimes, Killers, Cults and Beer, Bill Selby to talk about a very uplifting and lighthearted episode. I’m kidding. This guy (not Bill) was one of the most brutal, blood thirsty Nazis I’ve ever read about. Oskar Dirlewanger was a violent, alcoholic, psychopath who cut a trail of death and dispair across eastern Europe during WWII, leading a crew of ACTUAL criminals and just to spice it up, mental patients that had been reassigned from hospitals for the criminally insane. I don’t want to go too much farther into it and spoil it. Yes, I’m glad he’s dead and I hope he burns in Hell.   Go check Bill out:https://www.youtube.com/@CrimesKillersCultsandBeerhttps://open.spotify.com/show/1aCCu8eZ7BjGMVhitQoeaj?si=64190059683d47b6

S.2 Ep. 9: The HashsashinWe travel back to the time of Crusaders and Castles to meet a man named Hassan Ibn-Sabah. A man of faith and religion who created an order of professional killers to protect him and also carry out his bidding. He hand selected these men and fed them drugs (allegedly) and made them promises of entry to heaven after their mission. Sound familiar? They had some HUGE targets on the command of Ibn-Sabah and a pretty high clearance rate on those targets too… Join me for the story of the Hashsashin, the Assassins.

S.2 Ep. 8: New JackProfessional wrestling is a business full of crazy, brave, tough and violent people. Sometimes that all manifests in one person. Let me introduce you to New Jack. He was born Jerome Young but after a rough childhood and a VERY interesting early adult life he got into wrestling and became New Jack. Due to his willingness to do wild stuff he quickly found himself on the Island of Misfit Toys of professional wrestling, ECW which was a match made in heaven. We’ll talk about some of the craziest parts of his career like the time he broke his skull. Or the time he almost killed someone in the ring. Or the OTHER time he almost killed someone in the ring. Or the OTHER time he almost killed someone in the ring… You’re probably picking up what I’m laying down at this point… Enjoy.  

S.2 Ep. 7: Weirdness in the Canadian WildernessThis time we are headed to some of the remote parts of the Canadian wilderness for some odd occurrences and mysterious disappearances. First we’re swinging through Nunavut where an entire Inuit village seemingly dropped off the face of the earth without a trace. It only gets weirder from there, when 2 investigations by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were scrubbed from record and the whole thing was forgotten about. Then we head the west coast, about 30 hours north of Vancouver to one of the most dangerous sections of the Canadian bush. A valley where Natives refuse to go, where men seeking fortunes tend to coming missing in more than one way and where the past may still be alive and hiding. Enjoy!

S.2 Ep. 6: Nathan Bedford ForrestFrom humble beginnings comes who would become one of possibly THE WORST people I’ve covered on this show. Nathan Bedford Forrest grew up pretty poor but as a young man got into a very lucrative business, slave trading. He made a ton of money selling human beings like used cars, including, allegedly the daughter of a very well known person. Unfortunately, he made enough money to be able to field his own units during the Civil War for, shockingly, the Confederacy. He was an incredible general for the losing side, he fought hard, led his men and rarely ordered them to do anything he wasn’t willing to do. He did however partake in some of the biggest battles in the south, along with a potential war crime. Just when you think this guy can’t get worse, he does exactly that… 

S.2 Ep.5 - Bay of Pigs and Operation NorthwoodsAh, the 1960’s. Peace. Love. Threats of nuclear war. What a time to be alive, and of course the ever creeping threat of Communism. This week we are talking a little about the Cuban Revolution where Castro took over, then we’re going to talk about how this was almost IMMEDIATELY a problem for Washington. And when Washington DC has a problem like this the most common solution is to… Remove the cause… After months of planning and practice they sent men into the Bay of Pigs to have it go wrong from the get go. Then there’s the whole Cuban Missile thing, and a President getting shot after he decided against something called Operation Northwoods. That was a series of plans that the US GOVERNMENT put ON PAPER about how to commit FALSE FLAG ATTACKS to get into a war with Cuba. But hey, none of that is true. None of that would ever happen. Right? Keep that Reynolds Wrap handy, we're going down a rabbithole...  

Christmas Bonus : The Christmas Truce of 1914War is hell. Trench warfare is a special kind of hell. What’s special is finding out that the men across the stretch that nobody crosses have more in common with you than the leaders sending you to your death is something special. Every once in a while, in the most inhuman times, soldiers find common ground. Today we're all brothersTonight we're all friendsA moment of peace in a war that never endsToday we're all brothersWe drink and uniteNow Christmas has arrived and the snow turns the ground whiteHear carols from the trenchesWe sing O Holy NightOur guns laid to rest among snowflakesA Christmas in the trenchesA Christmas on the front far from home.

S.2 Ep. 4 - Samuel WhittemoreThis time we jump back into the American Revolution to visit a soldier turned Statesmen. He started off as the son of a farmer and became a British soldier and then officer during the Austrian War of Succession and then the French and Indian War. After his warfighting was done, Samuel Whittemore became a low level politician in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts at a pivotal time in the Colonies. He would pen many letters to other towns in the area and help launch the War of Independence. We never learned about this guy but, holy crap is his story wild. Especially the end of it!

S.2 Ep. 3 - Operation Wraith of GodFollowing the events of the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, the Israelis took the fight to anyone they considered an enemy of the state. Members of Black September, the PLO and other assorted terrorist groups would meet some pretty gruesome fates at the hands of Mossad, the Israeli government's most dangerous tool. 

S. 2 Ep.2 : The Munich OlympicsThe 1972 Summer Olympics are being held in Germany for the first time since 1936. There a guy in charge at the time that gave Germany a not so great reputation so, the German government wanted to do everything they could to make this experience feel less… militant than it was in 1936. Unfortunately that meant incredibly lax security measures which was bad news for the Israeli athletes that took part in the games. Months of planning on the part of a group called Black September, an offshoot of the PLO would culminate in a tragic hostage situation. Then check out the next episode where I go into the Israeli response to the hostage situation…

We are starting Season 2 with a bang. Have you ever gone outside at night and looked up at the vast starfield above you and thought, “Man, I bet so many people have died in space…” Well… Not a ton but more than a handful have met their maker after slipping the bonds of our atmosphere, attempting to go where no man has gone before. The Final Frontier. Anyways, here's a bunch of stories about space commies that died due to unreliable equipment and some American astronauts that either barely or didn’t at all make it off the ground. 

Join me from the comfort of my couch (and yours) for a little teaser of things to come in Season 2.

History Goon Ep. 30 - Dallas StoudenmireWe are closing out Season 1 with some Cowboy stuff! And with a name like Dallas Stoudenmire you bet your boots he is gonna do some cowboy lawman stuff. Drunk fist fights. Drunk gunfights. Chasing bad guys… Drunk of course. He was one of the better lawmen that the city of El Paso had seen at the time and he didn’t take s**t from anyone. That is until the Manning Brothers (not those ones) show up and start causing trouble that he would fight for the rest of his life.  

This week we are talking about one of the most notorious and violent broad-daylight robberies in the history of the United States, The North Hollywood Shootout. 2 scumbags with a taste for automatic rifles and trying to cosplay Heat (which I got to watch for research purposes) started off robbing armored cars full of cash but would eventually step up to banks. What happens when 2 guys in homemade body armor and AKs walk into a bank at the EXACT SAME TIME that a police patrol drives by? Well, you get the most violent 44 minutes that North Hollywood, California has ever seen. 

History Goon Ep. 28 - The Bennington Triangle Back home. Vermont. This time we are going to visit one of the creepiest places in my little state; The Bennington Triangle. This place has it all: Murders, insanity, a failed town, monsters, man eating rocks, missing people and the formation of the Vermont State Police. Are those things related? You be the judge. Is it strange? Yeah, it absolutely is. 

History Goon Ep. 27 - Tanks for the MemoriesThis week, I'm bringing you some of the silliest, scariest and weirdest tanks ever designed. Some of them never saw combat (thankfully) and some did and had varying levels of success. Everything from the Kugelpanzer which was basically the Atlasphere from American Gladiators but with a machinegun, to the Russians being God's silliest gooses and trying to build a flying tank. Oh, and Germany's first entry into BattleBots, Russian anti-tank dogs and a crazy Commie that basically got into a fist fight with a tank. And there's witches in here somewhere too. Little. Bit. Of. Everything. 

We pick up from the last episode right after Cliff “Elvis” Walcott’s Blackhawk, Super 6-1 was shot down by an RPG. The guys on the ground have to scramble to get to the crash site before it’s too late but the militiamen have started blocking roads off and making life difficult for the Rangers and Delta. As they were fighting towards the crash site, Mike Durant in Super 6-4 was shot down. Things get really bad before Mike Durant gets captured and held hostage. The Rangers and Delta had to fight through the night, a mission that was supposed to take less than an hour is now stretching into a new day.  Thanks to the 10th Mountain Division and a Malaysian that wasn’t going to take no for an answer from the higher-up, help would be on the way…

History Goon Ep. 25 - Battle of Mogadishu Pt. 1 - IreneThis episode is part 1 of one of the most harrowing 24 hours in US Special Forces history. It all started as a UN Peacekeeping operation to try and feed the starving people of Somalia. Warlords had taken control of the country and started weaponizing hunger and food against their own people. After months of UN forces getting attacked and ambushed, they would have a helicopter shot down. The crew was killed and mutilated before being dragged through the streets, now it was time to try and stop the fighting. US Special Forces consisting of Army Rangers and Delta Operators would be sent into the city of Mogadishu to capture the warlord Mohammed Farah Aidid whose forces were responsible for hijacking UN food trucks and then killing people at the food handoff points. The Rangers and Delta teams got prepared, the word was given that the mission was a go. Irene. 

Back to WWII we go! Back to a familiar place (Operation Market Garden) with some people we’re familiar with (the British Paratroopers) but since we’re talking about the Brits during WWII YOU KNOW we’re in for a treat of just… Bonkers stories… Pat Glover is no exception to this rule. He may have been just a Quartermaster for his unit but, he was a badass also. Jumping into Holland for Market Garden, fighting Nazis, getting blown up, getting revenge for his beloved Para-Chicken Myrtle, being captured, being involved in one of the most famous rescues pulled off by Allied Forces during all of WWII. Ya know… Normal British stuff. Yeah, you read that right about the chicken too.          

This guy may be the most badass offering from Poland of all time. Jan Sobieski was born to a Noble family, he travelled Europe with his brother and learned like 75 languages then went home to fight. Not on foot, he’s a cavalry guy… He builds his own unit of Winged Hussars. Giant, metal, winged death machines. This was at a time where the Ottoman Empire was spreading through Europe, a very few would stand up to try and stop them. After the creation of the Holy League the Ottomans besieged the city of Vienna. One problem: Jan Sobieski is buddies with the Holy Roman Empire. Where Vienna just so happens to be… Spoiler Alert: They currently speak Polish in Poland

Baseball is my favorite sport. The Yankees are my LEAST favorite team. Billy Martin is my FAVORITE Yankee. It may be strange to have a favorite person on your least favorite team but, stick with me and you’ll see why I love this guy. He is an All American success story: He grew up poor, worked hard and earned an opportunity to fight other professional athletes in a non-combat sport. He played with and against a whos-who of would be and should be Hall of Famers on the diamond, he helped his team win championships and even led them there as a manager. He also beat the s**t out of everyone who he felt like mistreated him. Spiking him at second base? Beating. Talking to him during warmups? Beating. Driving a cab and liking football more than baseball? Beating. Selling marshmallows? Beating… Oh and let’s not forget his part in one of the most infamous moments in the ENTIRE HISTORY of baseball. There’s been a lot of crazy people in baseball but, there’s only ONE Billy Martin. 

Have you ever wanted to know what would happen to you in history if you did something silly like: say something about royalty, be a witch, be gay, have a miscarriage? Most of the time it’s horrible. Sometimes it's funny. It’s ALWAYS painful. Wanna hear about people getting tossed out windows? Skin peeled off? Squashed to death by the largest land mammal around? How bout mutilated limbs and eaten alive by bugs? If I can make ONE person uncomfortable with this episode I’ll consider it a win.

History Goon Ep. 20: Fred BurnabyThis week we are headed to a couple places we've visited before: England and Africa... Fred Burnaby was born into a family of note. His father was buddies with Dukes and Nobles and higher up in the local Church. Fred was lined up to follow in his fathers footsteps but decided he wanted to live a life of adventure. He would attend college, beat up the locals and eventually became a member of the Royal Cavalry. In his CRAZY AMOUNT OF FREE TIME he picked up some interesting hobbies: Fencing, Boxing, Bodybuilding, Writing and of all things Hot Air Ballooning... This guy is basically old timey Forrest Gump with some of the things and people he runs into in his daily life. Oh... He also eventually gets to go into combat. Even without that part, his life was WILD and deserved to have his story told! 

To piggyback off last week’s episode, on his death, Chief Cornstalk supposedly cursed the land he died on. That land was the spot of Point Pleasant, WV. 190 years later the steel beams of the Silver Bridge that connected Point Pleasant, WV and Gallipolis, OH would twist and break, sending cars plummeting into the icy water below. What’s strange is the events that lead up to this starting in 1967 with a fateful encounter on a dark section of highway. This story has it all; possible secret government organizations, strange communications, dogs, odd tracks, unbelievable sightings of an unknown creature, a curse playing out, tragic deaths. This one is a little out of the box from what you’d normally hear on the show but, I think it works.   

This week we are headed back to pre-Revolutionary War America for a lesser known war. Chief Cornstalk of the Shawnee was a man of peace. Until he was pushed to violence. The British Government in control of the Colonies had been signing treaties with tribes all over the area of what today is New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. The problem began when a treaty was signed by a tribe that gave over land that didn’t belong to them… The Brits started moving in on Shawnee land and raiding their villages and towns, there’s only so far a peaceful man can be pushed until he has to fight back. Cornstalk would take the fight to the greatest military power on the planet at the time but, since Shawnee isn’t a language spoken in a large area of the country I’m sure you can figure out how that went. This story is a tragedy that leads to a possible curse as weird as that sounds. This isn’t a two part episode but this is the lead into far more strange and tragic things next time. Enjoy.   

This week we take to the skies to follow the life of a boy fascinated by planes that just so happened to become the most lethal pilot in US history. Dick Bong was born in a small Wisconsin town but would join the Army Air Corp right out of college and take the fight to the Imperial Japanese Army behind the sticks of one of the most interesting planes of WWII, the P-38 Lighting. This quiet, shy, reserved midwestern boy would cost the Japanese Air Force so many planes you can't count them on all your fingers and toes. What a wild ride we're in for with this one!

This week we are headed to London. The culture. The history. The scenery. The Iranian Embassy being stormed by a bunch of poorly trained Iranian separatists. These guys have the perfect plan; take hostages and hold them until a bunch of political prisoners are released. Let's start taking some bets. Who would win? 6 poorly armed guys trying to make a political stand or a dozen of the most highly decorated and well armed men in the British Isles? There's only one way to find out...

Danny Greene was born into misfortune. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio. Mom died right after he was born due to complications of his delivery, Dad was a raging drunk. He would end up bouncing around from living with Dad and Grandpa, to an Orphanage, back to Dad and Step-mom and then back to Grandpa’s. Believe it or not, he was getting into trouble THE ENTIRE TIME this was going on. He did a short stint in the Marine Corp and then got into Union work. He worked his way up from a loader/unloader on the docks all the way up to the head of the ILA Union in Cleveland. He of course abused this power like ALL Union guys seem too but, he also started rubbing people the wrong way when he got hooked into the underworld of Cleveland. Yeah sure, he’s working with the Mafia but why would that stop him from being abrasive and making the wrong enemies? Join me as we tell this wild story and get into all the times Danny Greene proved the “Luck of the Irish” was a real thing for him…

This should be a refreshing change from the last couple episodes. We’re off the the Peghamagabow was nobody, well less than nobody to the Canadian Government. He was a First Nations member of the Ojibwe Tribe that decided to volunteer to fight for a country that didn’t like him. He fought through the trenches, survived gas attacks and pulled some real life Metal Gear Solid stuff in No-Mans-Land. He was pretty fond of sneaking into enemy trenches and stealing or moving random things just to annoy the Germans. When the war ended he returned home from Europe as the most prolific sniper on EITHER SIDE of WWI. But just because he was home that didn’t mean he was done fighting, not by a long shot. I’m so glad that I found this guys name and had the opportunity to dig into his story.

This time, we finish up the incredible, horrible tale of the goings on in Leopold’s Congo from last time. We start off with someone calling him out for the terrible things going on, and it is completely ignored. Then other people come forward with news of people being mutilated, and it being completely ignored. Then, some Irish guy creates tires out of rubber, and things get even worse for the Congolese people. Finally, after years of mass killings and kidnappings, an unassuming worker for a shipping company notices some weird shipments coming and going and decides to do something about it. We finally have a hero in this story. We also had the World’s Fair in Belgium, and Leopold wanted to show off what he had in the Congo… Then, some dude years later made some candies. This part of the story is even worse than the first, but it kinda sorta ends well. As well as it can, I guess.

Boy oh boy… If you don’t know who this guy is, first off, lucky you. Second, I’m sorry that I’m about to change that. He was a simple man; all he really wanted was to take over the throne of Belgium from his father and own a colony somewhere that would help his country build its economy. After trying and failing for years to talk Parliament into building a colony somewhere he decided “F**k it. I’ll do it myself” and he BOUGHT THE CONGO. That means that any money that came from exporting any kind of natural resources would go to him and him alone. He even hired a pet explorer who would go there and “convince” the locals to sell the land they had been on for generations. After the construction was complete, the fun began… Harvesting natural resources, mostly ivory to start with. When the ivory trade started drying up, the beatings began… Did I mention this guy was a complete turd? This is only the beginning, though. Part 2 is going to be horrendous… Get episodes a week early, ad-free episodes, and content on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1159media

This episode holds a special place in my heart for a couple of different reasons. First, it happened in my home state of Vermont, and secondly, I got to spend a couple of hours hanging out with my little brother. We talk about fun trips we took in our childhood, hospital trips with Dad for an axe wound, the beauty of childbirth and even about this one time that a bunch of Confederate soldiers came down from Canada and robbed a series of banks in the Town of St. Albans to try and get some payback for perceived war crimes. They came up with a great, well-thought-out plan and executed it, until they realized the people of the Green Mountain State are VERY big fans of the 2nd Amendment. Oh, and the best part is, this great plan that they came up with was basically a comedy of errors and incompetence; they should have made off with WAAAAY more money than they did, but they were bamboozled by some of the locals. With all that said, somehow, this story ends in a way that nobody saw coming, the leader of the raid doing a complete 180 and completely redeeming himself as a human. This one was a ton of fun to do, and I think you’ll hear that in the recording!Get episodes a week early, and ad-free access to all episodes on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1159media

It’s hard to cover the entire history of a military unit. It’s much easier to cover a handful of individuals who were part of it. It’s even better when those handful of guys are completely God damn feral in battle. When you think of Nepal you probably think of sherpas and Mount Everest, you don’t think of a bunch of badasses with giant knives fighting for the English Crown in basically every conflict they’ve been involved with since the early 1800’s (as an American, I’m super glad the Brits didn’t bring them to the Revolution.) Two of our guys share the same last name but aren’t related; they both fought the Japanese during WWII. One single-handedly fended off a massive wave of charging baddies. The other took the fight to them. Big time. Our final Gurkha pulled some shit on a train that if you saw it in a movie based on his life you wouldn’t believe that it was true. These guys are excellent, loyal, terrifying, and above all else, brave as hell.  There’s a saying: “If a man says he’s not afraid of dying, he’s either lying or a Gurkha.”Get episodes a week early, and ad-free access to all episodes on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1159media

This one is a bit different. It’s IMPOSSIBLE to tell either of these men’s stories without talking about the other. Fate and hatred pulled these two towards each other in a way that is like something out of a movie. Talaat Pasha was a Turkish politician and military leader who was, bare minimum, one of the most evil people who has ever been, but most people have never heard his name. Soghomon Tehliraian wanted to get an education. The issue between these two goes back centuries before either where born, when the Turks decided that Armenia didn’t need to be a country and took half of it. Once the out guys came into the picture, Pasha decided that the Armenian People didn’t need to exist anymore. He was responsible for the extermination of damn near 2 million people. Tehliraian’s family was among them. Sometimes the bad guys get away with the evil they do. Sometimes they don’t. Find out which way this one turns…Get episodes a week early, and ad-free access to all episodes on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1159media

Born into a well-off family, he was left fatherless at a young age after his father died from the horrific long-term effects of being gassed in the trenches of WWI. He wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps and be a fighting man, and so did his brother and sister. Well, she wasn’t a fighting man. She was a badass combat ambulance driver. He spent his early career in Her Majesty's Army over in India doing some wild shit, hunting tigers and spearing wild pigs. Then Hitler went and ruined his fun. He trained as part of the ultra elite SAS and wanted to jump out of planes. He also stole a plane for a weekend boys trip, but that’s not important. He would take part in one of the largest airborne assaults in world history: Operation Market Garden. Him and his guys landed waaaay off course in their glider and humped it like 7 miles across town. The good news was that there were also tons of unfriendly Germans there, didn’t matter; Digby is the main character. They got to the objective point and got their asses kicked but, he did some really fun stuff with the umbrella he had… He got captured by the Nazis but that wasn’t the end of his story. Not. Even. Close.Get episodes a week early, and ad-free access to all episodes on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1159media

Our first toe dip into the world of the underworld. This is the kind of True Crime topic you can expect to see more of in the future of History Goon. Joe Barboza had a f**ked up childhood. His dad left because he was cheating on his mom; she sent little Joe to talk to him, and he kicked him out. After he bought him a pigeon. He bounced around youth and adult prisons (he spent time in a bunch of places that one of the most notorious possible serial killers in US history. He also could have been full of shit.) Joe would get recruited for his “skillset” by the biggest crime family in New England, where he terrorised the streets of Massachusetts. If you owed Joe money, he would find you. And when he found you, he was going to hurt you. Badly. The big reason I wanted to cover him is what he was responsible for, the creation of a Government program that is still in use today. Hang out for a bit and see how that worked out for him…Get the show a week early, and ad-free on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1159media

The “War on Drugs” started back in 1971 under Richard Nixon with the intent of eliminating illegal drug use by making the fines and penalties so stiff that people would stop using them. It’s hard to say, but guys, I think drugs won. That being said, people have been doing drugs for a LONG TIME. People have also been going to war for a LONG TIME. Sometimes, the streams get crossed, and guys stuff handfuls of mushrooms into their mouths and attack the English. Or sometimes the 2 biggest super powers that fought in the European theater of WWII gave troops Meth. Maybe some guys get yakked out of their skulls on Meth and fight the Russians on skis. Maybe dudes got baked and fought off a billion Vietcong soldiers in the middle of the night. It’s hard to say.  I’m not going to condone drug use, but this is gonna be a wild episode.Get early, ad-free access to all episodes on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1159media

This one is wild. Very interesting childhood, moving all over the world with his father doing missionary work until he accidentally joined the Chinese Army. Then his dad go pissed and got him removed, then he went to fight in Spain for a bit before WWII (yes, that was a thing) and then finally joining up with the US Army and getting treated like garbage because he just so happened to be Black. Eventually he would get the chance to prove that Black soldiers where, in fact, just as good as White dudes at killing Nazis. And boy oh boy was he GREAT at killing Nazis. This was one of the cases in the history of the US that proved how messed up things were. He fought and nearly died for a country that he loved that didn’t love him back because of the color of his skin. This guy was a trailblazer not just for his race but for the future of everyone who would serve in the future. Did I mention that he was REALLY GOOD at killing Nazis?Get early, ad-free access to all episodes on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1159media

One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. This man was a freedom fighter. No questions asked. He grew up in a rural part of Afghanistan and got a good education before following in his father’s footsteps of joining the military. Then Communism entered the “Graveyard of Empires,” and they faced off with the Mujahideen and learned why Afghanistan earned that nickname. When your choice is to help clean up the Chernobyl disaster or go fight in the desert, growing a third testicle and glowing was probably a better choice. Massoud got the backing of Western powers in the form of weapons and high-end training to fight the creeping spread of Communism. After the Russians left, the power vacuum was plugged in and flipped on, and infighting started among Mujahideen factions. There’s one scum-sucking turd that got involved and basically forced Massoud out of any kind of power he was building, and he was doing good things, building schools and hospitals in poorer parts of the country and trying to give women more rights. He also started passing information off to the CIA that would fall on deaf ears and lead to tragedy and war.Get early, ad-free access to all episodes on Patreon: https://patreon.com/1159media